Romans 4:1-8

¹ What then shall we say Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has a reason to boast, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? ‘And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.’ ⁴ To the one who works, payment is not reckoned according to grace but according to one’s due. ⁵ But to the one not working, but believing in the One who justifies the godless, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. ⁶ Just as even David speaks of the blessing of the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

⁷ ‘Blessed are they whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,
and whose sins have been covered.
⁸ Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not reckon.’

We had another great class Sunday morning. Thanks to all who came and especially to those who participated. Your comments were helpful, and I hope everyone was blessed. Here are my notes from the class. Please fill any omissions by submitting a comment. If you have any thoughts or questions you want to add, please do so via the comments, or you can e-mail me if you don’t want to share publicly.

In the last section, Paul introduced the idea that justification by faith closes off any opportunity we might have to boast in our salvation. We discussed the fact that if any part of our being made right with God depended in any way on something we did, then we would have reason to boast. Salvation would be partly of God, and partly of us, and God would be robbed of the glory He deserves. Rather, we have nothing to boast about. God doesn’t look to works, but to faith.

If you recall, Paul’s audience at the church in Rome is a mix of Jewish and non-Jewish Christians. As we saw earlier, the Law and circumcision were the distinguishing features of the Jews, and it was by these that the Jewish believers set their hope for God’s justifying mercy to rest on them. It was this that caused many Jewish Christians to stir up trouble among their non-Jewish brethren by insisting they observe the Law and be circumcised (see Galatians for an example of Paul addressing this kind of situation). Here, Paul calls upon Abraham–the revered forefather of the Jewish people, the one to whom God gave circumcision, and the promise that He would make of him a mighty nation–to support his argument.

Paul refers to Abraham as “our forefather according to the flesh”–that is, his forefather, and the forefather of all the Jewish Christians. It could be argued that Abraham is also the spiritual forefather of all believers, since as Paul will argue, Abraham’s justification came through faith, just like ours. If Abraham was justified by works (literally “out of works”–the Greek ek ergôn indicates a justification resulting from the works performed), Paul says he would have something to boast about. He could say he earned God’s favor, that through righteous deeds and careful obedience, he managed to score points with God. He could polish his nails on his lapel and smile.

But Paul adds that this is not the case. He wouldn’t have a reason to boast in God’s presence. He goes on to explain what he means in verse 3, where he quotes Genesis 15:6 to support his point: Abraham believed God and it–i.e., his faith–was reckoned to him for righteousness. The language of “reckoning” should be taken in the sense of crediting to one’s account. Abraham didn’t have justifying righteousness before, but because he believed–not because he worked–God credited justifying righteousness to him.

Here’s a curve-ball. What about James 2:21-25, where James quotes the same passage from Genesis to say that a man is not justified by faith alone, but by works? The context of James 2 provides the resolution to this apparent contradiction. Paul is talking primarily about our right standing before God; James’ focus is on how that justification is worked out horizontally–that is, between people. True faith produces works, not because we need works to be justified, but because those works demonstrate our justification. Paul’s audience believed it was works that justified. James’ audience believed that since justification was by faith alone, they were absolved from doing anything. But, as the old saying goes (I heard it from R. C. Sproul first), we are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.

In verse 4, Paul draws a simple analogy. If you get a reward, or some kind of payment, as a result of doing work, this comes to you not by grace, but because you earned it. Your employer doesn’t pay you out of the kindness of his or her heart. The money you get from your workplace comes because you worked for it; you earned it. And what’s more, you expect it. If payday comes around and your boss says, “too bad, I’m not paying you,” you’d be a little upset. I know I would! You work hard for your paycheck, and you expect to see that paycheck as a result of the work done. But the one who doesn’t work, but instead believes in God, that faith is what credits righteousness to his account. In other words, righteousness comes to that person as a gift of grace because there is nothing that person did to earn it. Paul underscores the grace aspect of this gift by describing God as “the One who justifies the ungodly.” The Greek word translated “ungodly” (asebês) literally means one who refuses to worship. Out of His great mercy and kindness, God credits righteousness to people who, not only haven’t worked for it, but have no desire to work for it! The recipients of God’s grace are like those in Romans 1 who rebelled against God and turned to worship other things. Just as Paul describes the Ephesians in Ephesians 2, they were following their own passions until God changed them and their desires. Not because of anything they did, but out of His great love and unfathomable mercy.

Now Paul brings in David, another hero of the faith close to Jewish hearts. Not only does Abraham agree with Paul, but David too! He quotes from Psalm 32:1-2, which describes the blessedness of the person whose lawlessness (Greek anomia) is forgiven, whose sins are covered, and whose sin the Lord will not reckon (the Greek is emphatic: will definitely not reckon), or take into account. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew utilizes three different words for “sin” (the Greek translation only uses two)–four if you read to the end of 32:2. Each word for sin has overlap with each other as well as nuance of its own. The point I see here is that David appears to be covering all the basis with regard to wrong-doing. Whatever the kind of sin, there is forgiveness. And Paul says that this forgiveness comes to all who believe, regardless of works.

One last curve-ball: Exodus 23:7, in which God says that He will not acquit the guilty. Yet Paul is saying that God justifies the ungodly. Contradiction? As we discussed, there is no contradiction. Rather, Exodus 23:7 helps to make Paul’s point. Under the Law, every crime must be punished. Indeed, the justice of God demands that every breach of the Law must receive it’s due penalty. Since God is just, He must punish the guilty. Everyone that sins against Him must face the consequences of that sin. In this sense, Exodus 23:7 applies, even today. However, as Paul argues, and will continue to point out as we go along, Jesus has come as the perfect substitute. He has born upon Himself the punishment due to those who believe. In this way, God’s justice is satisfied. Yet God’s grace and mercy are also satisfied in that He requires nothing of those who benefit from Christ’s actions on their behalf.

Thought from the passage: Do you find yourself struggling with the idea that there is nothing you can do to be justified before God? Either you are not a Christian, yet you feel the weight of guilt for your sin, or you are a Christian but you’re afraid you aren’t saved because you’ve failed to do something. In the first case, you need to throw yourself on the mercy of God, call upon Jesus as your savior, and trust that God truly is the one who justifies the ungodly. For the Christian, I say be at rest! You never have been able to earn your salvation, and there is nothing you can do to put yourself in a better position with God than you are now. You are saved. In God’s eyes, you are justified. Rest in that, and pursue works because you love God and want to please Him, not because you think you need to earn His love. He couldn’t love you more than He does now.